Category: Law, Legal & Justice

** TN gets country’s first-ever forensic DNA search tool

Tamil Nadu has become the first State in the country to get its own ‘forensic DNA profile search tool’, developed by the State Forensic Sciences Department. On Saturday, Chief Minister MK Stalin launched the facility and handed it over to the state police chief.

The tool will come in handy for gathering profiles of victims of human trafficking; identifying missing children; tracking criminals from other States, unidentified bodies, profiles of history-sheeters, and people who die in natural disasters.

** Professor Bimal Patel elected to International Law Commission for 5-year term

Prof. Patel has served in various roles such as the Director at the Gujarat National Law University and member of the 21st Law Commission of India

Professor Bimal Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya Raksha University and Member of National Security Advisory Board of India, has been elected to the International Law Commission for a five-year term starting January 1, 2023 in a hard-fought election at the United Nations.

** Railway, I&B ministries launch one-stop permission website to ease process of filming on trains

This website aims to make the process of getting permission to film across railways premises more efficient.

In a first, to ease the process of shooting a film on trains or at railway stations, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Film Facilitation Office (FFO) and the Ministry of Railways have collaborated to create a ‘single window filming mechanism’.

This website aims to make the process of getting permission to film across railways premises more efficient.

** New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors. These include minors, survivors of sexual assault and those with foetal malformation among others. Others may seek abortion up to 20 weeks with the permission of one doctor upon meeting certain criteria — earlier you needed the permission of one doctor for termination up to 12 weeks, and two doctors for 12 to 20 weeks. The amended law provides for setting up of State-level medical boards to decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.

** Bengaluru-based lawyer is chairman of NYC Bar’s rights panel

Bengaluru-based lawyer Ramya Jawahar Kudekallu has been appointed as the chairperson of the New York City Bar’s International Human Rights Committee.

Ramya’s granduncle was Attorney General of India, while her father Jawahar Kudekallu and her uncle are also advocates

** Indian organisation shares Alternative Nobel with 3 others

Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), an organisation working to protect the environment in India through the creative use of law and legal processes, was among the winners.